ACES IS AN INTEGRATED CONTROL SYSTEM WHICH USES CONVENTIONAL AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUES FOR AUTOMATED ASSISTANCE TO THE OPTIMIZATION OF AIR COMBAT COMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITIES. ACES CONTROLLERS ARE ELEMENTS OF EACH COMBAT WEAPONS AND C2 ENVIRONMENTS NODE WHICH CAN SENSE BOTH THE ELECTROMAGNETIC ENVIRONMENT AND THE QUALITATIVE DEMANDS FOR COMMUNICATIONS AT NODES AND WITHIN NETWORKS. ACES TAKES ADVANTAGE OF ADVANCES IN ADAPTIVE COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES AND THROUGH AN EXPERT SYSTEM'S "COMMUNICATOR'S AGENT" ASSISTS IN BALANCING THE REQUIRED THROUGHPUT OF COMMUNICATIONS AGAINST THE AVAILABLE BANDWIDTH. THE UNIQUENESS OF ACES IS IN ITS ABILITY TO "KNOW" ABOUT BOTH THE COMMUNICATIONS ENVIRONMENT AND THE COMBAT SITUATIONAL ENVIRONMENT SIMULTANEOUSLY. THE INTERACTION OF THESE DOMAINS IS SEEN AS A HIGHLY ADVANCED APPROACH TO MATCHING THE ESSENTIAL FLOW OF INFORMATION WITH THE AVAILABLE COMMUNICATIONS.